


One of Us

by lavatorylovemachine



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Inspired by Music, Post-Hogwarts, Unhappy marriages
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-08-18 09:15:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8156998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavatorylovemachine/pseuds/lavatorylovemachine
Summary: After the war, Harry and Luna meet at different points in their lives. Different ages, different states of heart.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I must say upfront that I haven't read Cursed Child and thus all my research comes from the Harry Potter wikia. I apologize in advance for any mistakes regarding the new canon (although I don't think they'd interfere with the story anyway).
> 
> ABBA's "One of Us" inspired this fanfic, although in the end only the chorus ended up being accurate with what I wrote. Hope you enjoy it!

Luna wanders dreamily around Hogwarts, noticing all the changes in the castle. Everything looks so different, so renewed, so lively. Even the Bloody Baron is kind and happy, probably after centuries. She sighs in nostalgia, glad the war is over but at the same time wishing she could get her old Hogwarts back.

"Don't go too far."

Luna turns around and sees Rolf in his blue and white ensemble. He's smiling, a beautiful smile according to Luna, but missing something nonetheless.

"I won't," she says, trying to smile back. She hopes she's made it.

"Shall we?"

Rolf entwines their arms together and they cross the Great Hall. Inside, they're met with couples of former students and teachers dancing, and the flash of the new Hogwarts photographer.

"Welcome to the Anniversary Ball. Photograph's five sickles."

"No, thank you," Luna says.

"What?" Rolf exclaims. "Don't you want pictures?"

"I'm low on sickles," Luna lies. "And knuckles, for that matter."

"I'll pay."

They get a photograph of them smiling next to one another, but she knows only one of those is an authentic smile. Luna saves the photo in her purse and they start dancing around the Great Hall, free of the houses' tables so that everyone can enjoy themselves to the beat of the music.

And everyone is different. Some are thinner or heavier, but most are different in the heart, Luna can notice it. The war has changed everybody, for better or for worse.

"Hi, Luna."

Luna turns around gracefully, still dancing with Rolf.

It's Harry. He looks thinner, but definitely happier. A radiant Ginny holds hands with him.

"Hi, Harry," Luna greets, and it's surprised of how soft her voice sounds. Softer than usual.

"Care to introduce us?" Harry asks.

"Oh, this is Rolf Scamander. Rolf, this is Ginny and Harry.”

“Scamander?” Harry says. “Is your grandfather Newt Scamander?”

“He is,” Rolf smiles.

"Wicked. Nice to meet you, Rolf.”

"Likewise," Ginny says.

"Nice to meet you two."

"Well, we should go now," Harry says. "The music's too good to miss it…"

"Exactly," Rolf says.

"See you two around."

They leave and Luna and Rolf resume their dancing. Suddenly, in the middle of a ballad and with his hands around her waist, memories of her school days rush through her mind. Memories of thestrals and mistletoes and a giant self-made lion head.

How she has missed Harry, she hasn't realized it until now. She has missed his smile, eyes and spirit. Harry, The Boy Who Lived, but to her he was mostly The Boy Who Made Her Heart Beat Just A Bit Faster. Ever since her fourth year at Hogwarts, when they befriended each other. He has been a good, real friend so far, and in a parallel universe only Luna can create, he is something more.

She knows now that it's Harry she wants to be dancing with, not Rolf. Her father had arranged for she and Rolf to date, and he has ended up as a cover up for her feelings for Harry. And Harry looks very happy with Ginny, so Luna can’t escape Rolf’s embrace as they dance. _We belong, Harry,_ she thinks, _just not now._

"Would you like a drink?" Rolf asks.

 

 *******

 

Teddy is getting married. Only eighteen years old and his godson, the one he raised since he was a baby, is getting married. Victoire is one lucky lady.

Harry watches the after-wedding ceremony from a distance, drinking firewhiskey with Ron and Hermione and talking. It’s better this way, he thinks, with Ginny at the other side of the garden entertaining the kids. Harry is glad to be away, even for a day, from all the bickering and freezing silences. It's Teddy’s day, it should all be devoted to Teddy. He mustn’t know his godfather is having marital problems.

Harry’s laughing at one of Ron’s typical jokes when he spots a bright figure. It’s Luna, dancing with Rolf in her canary yellow dress that matches her blond hair, adorned by a pink rose. She looks beautiful and immensely happy as he teaches Rolf her unconventional dance moves learned from her father.

Harry had a crush on her, he remembers, very briefly, during his fifth year. She was the only one who understood, not just his grieving over Sirius, but everything. And she always made him smile, no matter how down he was. But then the feelings went away, as the sixth year started and Harry had a taste of the popularity he had been lacking of the years before. _What a fool I was_ , Harry thinks. But he was just a kid, a kid who wanted to be accepted and believed and got much more than that. Deep down, he had enjoyed the attention of Romilda Vane and the rest of people, thinking he could conquer the entire world. _What a fool_.

He wouldn’t bicker with Luna, he’s positive of that. She’d probably shrug things off and that would be the end of it. He smiles tenderly, a mental picture of the scene in his head.

“Harry, where are you going?” Hermione asks.

He hasn’t realized he’s taken a few steps forward.

“I just want to dance for a while,” he answers.

Walking quickly, he reaches Luna and Rolf.

“Hi, Luna,” he says awkwardly, interrupting the couple’s dance.

“Oh, hi, Harry,” Luna says, seemingly unaffected by the fact that she’s been interrupted. She’s smiling in fact.

“Hi, Harry,” Rolf says.

“Hi,” Harry says, but immediately looks at Luna again. “I was wondering if you’d like to dance with me. Just one song. Ginny is okay with it.”

Luna frowns. “Why wouldn’t she be?” Harry feels like a clumsy fifteen year old again. More than three decades old and he still hasn’t learned a thing about relationships. “Okay, I’ll dance with you, Harry.”

“Awesome.”

Rolf takes a few steps back, kisses Luna’s hand (making her smile widely) and leaves, winking at Harry.

So they dance, one of the songs that played at Hogwarts’ Yule Ball, all those years ago. Harry notices, while she’s swirling Luna around, that she has a ring on her ring finger.

“You got married?”

Luna nods, this time facing Harry as the two slow down their movements. “Last year. You got married too, didn’t you?”

Harry nods. Luna tilts her head and gives him a gentle look. “Are you happy?” she asks.

“Yes.”

“You don’t have to lie to me, Harry.”

 _She always knows_ , Harry thinks. “I’m not lying.” He chuckles nervously. “I swear.” He ends with a smile so that she believes him.

Luna smiles back. “Alright, Harry. You wouldn’t lie to a friend anyway, would you?”

“Of course not.”

 

 ********

 

“Lorcan! Lysander!” Luna says firmly. “Stop it!”

“But it’s my broom!” Lorcan says.

“No, I bought the broom for the both of you. Now, would you please share it?”

“Okay,” Lorcan looks down.

“Okay,” Lysander does the same.

“Five minutes each, alright?” Luna says. “I’ll be keeping time from here.”

She points her wand at the broom, making it move farther down the hill of the Lovegood’s house. The children follow, grinning.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” Luna says to Harry, who’s sitting next to her at the front yard. “They’re like that since they heard the word ‘divorce’”, she chuckles bitterly.

“Sorry,” Harry says. “I thought things were great between you and Rolf.”

“They were. They were for a while.”

“Do you still love him?”

Luna turns to Harry, her big eyes suddenly a bit smaller. “I learned to love him. I didn’t like him that much when we first started dating, but I learned how to over the years. Now I’m just tired. Or I unlearned.”

“You really think so? That one learns how to love someone?”

Luna nods. “And unlearns too.”

“I wish I could learn to love Ginny again.”

“But aren’t you divorced already?”

“Yeah… Yeah, I don’t know. I think I just feel lonely.”

“You’ll be alright, Harry. You’ll see.”

“Thanks, Luna,” Harry smiles slightly.

As he watches Lysander fly the broom a few feet above ground and Lorcan running after him, Harry thinks of how their lives could have turned up different, had they acted on their feelings when they were kids (and it’s a “they” because Harry knows Luna liked him back then). And now he thinks of kissing Luna. He could do it, finally, after all these years, and put an end to this mess. But then he thinks of the children, of Rolf working inside the house, of Xenophilius sick in St. Mungo, and no… he can’t do it. That would create an even bigger mess.

“I can buy Lysander a broom,” he says. “So that he stops fighting with Lorcan.”

“Would you do that, Harry?” Luna smiles at him.

“Yeah, it’s nothing, don’t worry.”

“He loves the Firebolt Supreme.”

Harry smiles. “Then Firebolt Supreme it is.”


End file.
